Be at rest wherever you are.

Yuanwu

ondrej pakan

Zen is not

some kind of excitement,

but concentration on our usual

everyday routine.

Shunryu Suzuki

When

machinations cease,

then the moon is there and the

breeze comes; so one needn’t experience

the world as an ocean of misery. When

the mind is aloof, there are no dust

and tracks from the rat race;

so why get addicted to

mountains?

Huanchu Daoren

If people are able

to humbly lower themselves,

to be yielding, plain, and sincere,

not wasting energy but always nurturing energy,

then they will be full of energy. If people can be free from

cogitation and rumination, not belabor their spirit

but always maintain their spirit,

then their spirit will be

complete.

Liu I-Ming

awakening to the tao

hard copy

I will walk down to a marina
on a hot day and not go out to sea.

I will go to bed and get up early,
and carry too much cash in my wallet.

On Memorial Day I will visit the graves
of all those who died in my novels.

If I have become famous I’ll wear a green
janitor’s suit and row a wooden boat.

From a key ring on my belt will hang
thirty-three keys that open no doors.

Perhaps I’ll take all of my grandchildren
to Disneyland in a camper but probably not.

One day standing in a river with my fly rod
I’ll have the courage to admit my life.

In a one-room cabin at night I’ll consign
photos, all tentative memories to the fire.

And you my loves, few as there have been, let’s lie
and say it could never have been otherwise.

So that: we may glide off in peace, not howling
like orphans in this endless century of war.

his holiness Jim Harrison